Bangkok Is Top Town For Facebookers In The World, As Asia Fuels Growth

DrTuner · May 18, 2012

Ah the demise of people talking face to face, I do miss it. Irony of that being, I'm writing on a tab to a bunch of internet users. Oh well, if you can't beat them..

Nisa · May 18, 2012

I have no clue what you are talking about or trying to point out. Can you clarify your point?

Well that may be a problem in the future or even now, you not knowing what I'm talking about, I mean. Suffice it to say what you regard as safe as houses and hidden behind Facebooks privacy, isn't. Read the links.

Where did I say safe as houses? Facebook has motivation to protect the privacy of individuals. Your response was to my stating that using Facebook to promote your company was no different than doing it other places on the internet except with some advantages.

So, please clarify what you are talking about and how it relates to what I posted.

So, again I don't understand your point especially give the concerns one group has brought up and FB response in your link which says "Facebook has no intention of doing this" and mostly because as I stated it is completely unrelated to the post you are replying to and has absolutely nothing to do with promoting your company or website on Facebook.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Nisa

volk666 · May 18, 2012

Facebook IPO is going really well so far.

Facebook has so many millions of users that few selected folks who got the shares today will have no problem selling them for 50-70 dollars in the near future. Once they've made their profits it will be those enthusiastic users who will hold the company value for a while.

Eventually, though, Facebook's Price to Earning Ratio of 100 will drop to the range of far more successful and mature companies like Apple, Google and Amazon, which is 20 and below.

Practically it means either the stock will drop five times in price or Facebook will start making five times more money. Take your pick. Last quarter they've seen the contraction, for instance.

Also, from now on they won't be thinking about how to get little Johnny make more friends, it will about how to show little Johnny and his friend more ads.

In terms of user growth they still have places like China but everywhere else the market is practically saturated so it's mostly the existing users who will have to shoulder more advertising. Nevermind the return value of ads in India or China comparing to that of US or Europe. Extra customers gained there does not mean Facebook will get the proportional revenue growth.

Besides, what's in it for Mark? Where's the challenge? He's already the King of the Hill in social networks. Google pushes "project glass" and dirverless cars and, of course, Android platform, and no one knows where they will go next and when they will stop. Mark, on the other hand, has been tweaking the same user functions for nearly ten years now. He is a young man, he must get bored of this sh*t eventually.

noitom · May 18, 2012

This is not meaningful for reasons that many posters have identified previously. Thailand users have high number of multiple accounts. The Facebook future strategy is to encompass a significant value in offering "location" and just in time offers to end point Facebook users from their advertisers. So it's not likely that a location pinpoint in Thailand would be that significant as well as the limited purchasing power. Maybe Thai advertisers will rush to spend ad money on Facebook to sell to their Thai market, but it's not a big claim to fame.

Lastly, Facebook has no plans to enter the market in China. It's preposterous of the newspaper to claim that Thailand's "explosive growth has helped "line the pockets" of Zuckerberg and Saverin. How much does the newspaper calculate that the 16Billion USD IPO would have been reduced without those explosive Thai users? It's a certainty that the newspaper has run the numbers on this in order to make that claim.

My Thai wife now has her Facebook shares. So she hopes that the explosive growth of Thai users like her does in fact "line her pockets" as well as Zuckerberg and Saverin, proportionately of course.

IsaanUSA · May 18, 2012

My Thai wife now has her Facebook shares. So she hopes that the explosive growth of Thai users like her does in fact "line her pockets" as well as Zuckerberg and Saverin, proportionately of course.

I hope you/she paid close to 39 dollars.

DrTuner · May 18, 2012

Someone in Thailand actually got in the IPO ? Congratulations, my HK broker gave no chance.

Nisa · May 18, 2012

This is not meaningful for reasons that many posters have identified previously. Thailand users have high number of multiple accounts. The Facebook future strategy is to encompass a significant value in offering "location" and just in time offers to end point Facebook users from their advertisers. So it's not likely that a location pinpoint in Thailand would be that significant as well as the limited purchasing power. Maybe Thai advertisers will rush to spend ad money on Facebook to sell to their Thai market, but it's not a big claim to fame.

Why in the world do you believe Thailand has a higher rate of multiple users than other places? Please don't tell me that the small percentage of the population that are working girls combined with the even smaller percentage that are on Facebook or have nothing to do with farangs or if they do, don't scam multiple farangs (typically older and not big facebook people) through Facebook over seas has any real impact on the numbers.

Also, Asia (which includes Thailand) has been huge in the growth of Facebook. They have unseated numerous other social networks and have seen huge growth the past few year in Asia including Thailand where the big player used to be Hi5. Asia, including Thailand, is where Facebook is going to see its highest growth in users in the coming years. As you know stock is not based on company value but perceived value and potential value.

PS. There is no lack of Thai advertisers on Facebook already. Just login and look at all the Thai language banner ads running down the side of your screen from Global / Major companies to small time folks I've never heard of.

Thailand has the 16th most users of any country on Facebook but rates 109th (25% which is half that of US or UK) in penetration rate (http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/?orderBy=penetration) and Thailand is the 20th most populated country and as an emerging economy with a constantly growing number of internet users, it certainly is an important focus for Facebook both in current numbers and future growth.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Nisa

Nisa · May 18, 2012

Kind of gets silly trying to find every way possible to marginalize Thailand or Thais from them spending too much time on Facebook because they have no life to the numbers are not real because Thais have multiple Facebook accounts to Thailand's users are not important to facebook and advertisers because they don't have money to spend ... As if folks have never been here before and haven't seen the HUGE advertising presence and dollars spent advertising in Thailand by major brands or the huge current and growing population of Thais getting connected to the internet and using smart phones.

Give it a break. Being insecure about one's self doesn't mean one needs to constantly attack what they believe is superior to them or adds to their feelings of being inferior.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Nisa

losworld · May 18, 2012

How appropriate in a country where "face" means everything... I am sure many can exaggerate their net worth, popularity, etc. Similar to one wearing gold chains then sleeping on the floor at a friend's home.

noitom · May 19, 2012

My Thai wife now has her Facebook shares. So she hopes that the explosive growth of Thai users like her does in fact "line her pockets" as well as Zuckerberg and Saverin, proportionately of course.

I hope you/she paid close to 39 dollars.

We paid 38.02 actually - I bought them when they dipped down around 11 and it was obvious that the underwriters were in buying to keep that level. At the ned of the day we thought they might fall lower, but again the underwriters bought the market, but it my go down. Anyway she is a happy camper - she had a choice of FB shares or their equivalent in GLD.

xthAi76s · May 19, 2012

This is not meaningful for reasons that many posters have identified previously. Thailand users have high number of multiple accounts. The Facebook future strategy is to encompass a significant value in offering "location" and just in time offers to end point Facebook users from their advertisers. So it's not likely that a location pinpoint in Thailand would be that significant as well as the limited purchasing power. Maybe Thai advertisers will rush to spend ad money on Facebook to sell to their Thai market, but it's not a big claim to fame.

Why in the world do you believe Thailand has a higher rate of multiple users than other places? Please don't tell me that the small percentage of the population that are working girls combined with the even smaller percentage that are on Facebook or have nothing to do with farangs or if they do, don't scam multiple farangs (typically older and not big facebook people) through Facebook over seas has any real impact on the numbers.

Also, Asia (which includes Thailand) has been huge in the growth of Facebook. They have unseated numerous other social networks and have seen huge growth the past few year in Asia including Thailand where the big player used to be Hi5. Asia, including Thailand, is where Facebook is going to see its highest growth in users in the coming years. As you know stock is not based on company value but perceived value and potential value.

PS. There is no lack of Thai advertisers on Facebook already. Just login and look at all the Thai language banner ads running down the side of your screen from Global / Major companies to small time folks I've never heard of.

Thailand has the 16th most users of any country on Facebook but rates 109th (25% which is half that of US or UK) in penetration rate (http://www.socialbak...rBy=penetration) and Thailand is the 20th most populated country and as an emerging economy with a constantly growing number of internet users, it certainly is an important focus for Facebook both in current numbers and future growth.

Why in the world do you believe Thailand has a higher rate of multiple users than other places?

FACE

noitom · May 19, 2012

@ Nisa - Suggest that you bone up on the business issues. Thailand has no 3G that works let alone 4G and is very far away from an implementation of 3G, at the least necessary to leverage a Facebook commercial implementation. Second, the big kicker in Thailand would be selling advertising to companies who have enabled apps (applications) on smart 3G or 4G phones. Companies would be interested in Facebook's ability, like Google's to pinpoint location and deliver just in time advertising offers through the companies app and get them "stuck" on the app, for example Starbucks. For additional example illustrations a Trader Joe, a Target, an Ikea, a Costco..etc or some other such enterprise like a Home Pro in Thailand.

Most of Non-farm Thailand is either manufacturing or hospitality (including - sex trade both for foreign sex tourism domestic sex trade which dwarfs the foreign sex business). Facebook has limited interest in focusing on the manufacturing sector in Thailand since they mostly sell internationally and through dealers. It would also be doubtful that the sex trade is of much future interest. Non-sex hospitality would be a limited advertiser paid market with apps running on Facebook. remember, FB's strategy is to get advertisers to "run the app" and therefore own the relationship. Thai based industry is unlikely to represent a significant market for implementing Facebook advertiser's apps. Red Bull , Chang, Singha, Thai Air, and CP would be fairly good examples of Thai companies who might have the scale and budget to run a Facebook secure app for mobile and desktop users.

Red Bull's market in Thailand doesn't strike me as worth it for them to pursue since they don't sell the international formula of Red Bull and contribute very little to overall Red Bull revenue. Chang and Singha might make it work, but their products don't really make an incremental gain with a FB app. Thai Air is so inept and bureaucratic that they would need 6 months of consulting from McKinsey to even understand the whole idea, and then forget about implementation. CP, well that might be a good case. Bangkok Bank or another bank may be another, but have you ever explored their technology for on line banking?

Read the enclosed article http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517 as a starrting point and see that the user sign ons is dropping off significantly and they have given up hopes for India as they also lack a 3G network. India by the way, has a much more robust and numerous real consumer base than Thailand. India also doen't have the vast black market pirated goods trade that is huge in Thailand and much of the goods around in malls is third run defects and copies. The article doesn't even reference Thailand. Top name brand stores in Thailand like Gucci, Fendi, Zegna ..etc. don't usually pay rent in large upscale malls like Paragon - they get a bye as a draw for traffic and just pay a commission to the landlord on any sales.

Thailand is not regarded as a "walking" or easy drive by market and therefore much of FB's strategy to target these customers doesn't appear relavent. Internet connection in most Thai residential and wireless end points is too slow or not secure. Apart from the technology issues, Thailand is just not an economic market for monetized commercial Facebook. They still haven't decoded that completely in the US, Europe and Japan let alone a fragile , limited state like Thailand.

Edited May 19, 2012 by noitom

phiphidon · May 19, 2012

I have no clue what you are talking about or trying to point out. Can you clarify your point?

Well that may be a problem in the future or even now, you not knowing what I'm talking about, I mean. Suffice it to say what you regard as safe as houses and hidden behind Facebooks privacy, isn't. Read the links.

Where did I say safe as houses? Facebook has motivation to protect the privacy of individuals. Your response was to my stating that using Facebook to promote your company was no different than doing it other places on the internet except with some advantages.

So, please clarify what you are talking about and how it relates to what I posted.

So, again I don't understand your point especially give the concerns one group has brought up and FB response in your link which says "Facebook has no intention of doing this" and mostly because as I stated it is completely unrelated to the post you are replying to and has absolutely nothing to do with promoting your company or website on Facebook.

Nisa you appear to be in attack mode and not listening mode but I'll try once more. If you believe that FB privacy and "promises" will stand up to a governments "requests", not necessarily made public, to access their information, I think you are wrong.

Nisa · May 19, 2012

I have no clue what you are talking about or trying to point out. Can you clarify your point?

Well that may be a problem in the future or even now, you not knowing what I'm talking about, I mean. Suffice it to say what you regard as safe as houses and hidden behind Facebooks privacy, isn't. Read the links.

Where did I say safe as houses? Facebook has motivation to protect the privacy of individuals. Your response was to my stating that using Facebook to promote your company was no different than doing it other places on the internet except with some advantages.

So, please clarify what you are talking about and how it relates to what I posted.

So, again I don't understand your point especially give the concerns one group has brought up and FB response in your link which says "Facebook has no intention of doing this" and mostly because as I stated it is completely unrelated to the post you are replying to and has absolutely nothing to do with promoting your company or website on Facebook.

Nisa you appear to be in attack mode and not listening mode but I'll try once more. If you believe that FB privacy and "promises" will stand up to a governments "requests", not necessarily made public, to access their information, I think you are wrong.

Again, no clue what this has to do with my post.

StefanBBK · May 19, 2012

I do have mixed feelings about this thing. However, Facebook is a reality. It is widely used and abused.

I am not a friend of sharing my every move with the public...

I wish there would be a good tutorial for us who are past 45 and would like to use Facebook responsibly.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Thaivisa Connect App

Nisa · May 19, 2012

@ Nisa - Suggest that you bone up on the business issues. Thailand has no 3G that works let alone 4G and is very far away from an implementation of 3G, at the least necessary to leverage a Facebook commercial implementation. Second, the big kicker in Thailand would be selling advertising to companies who have enabled apps (applications) on smart 3G or 4G phones. Companies would be interested in Facebook's ability, like Google's to pinpoint location and deliver just in time advertising offers through the companies app and get them "stuck" on the app, for example Starbucks. For additional example illustrations a Trader Joe, a Target, an Ikea, a Costco..etc or some other such enterprise like a Home Pro in Thailand.

Most of Non-farm Thailand is either manufacturing or hospitality (including - sex trade both for foreign sex tourism domestic sex trade which dwarfs the foreign sex business). Facebook has limited interest in focusing on the manufacturing sector in Thailand since they mostly sell internationally and through dealers. It would also be doubtful that the sex trade is of much future interest. Non-sex hospitality would be a limited advertiser paid market with apps running on Facebook. remember, FB's strategy is to get advertisers to "run the app" and therefore own the relationship. Thai based industry is unlikely to represent a significant market for implementing Facebook advertiser's apps. Red Bull , Chang, Singha, Thai Air, and CP would be fairly good examples of Thai companies who might have the scale and budget to run a Facebook secure app for mobile and desktop users.

Red Bull's market in Thailand doesn't strike me as worth it for them to pursue since they don't sell the international formula of Red Bull and contribute very little to overall Red Bull revenue. Chang and Singha might make it work, but their products don't really make an incremental gain with a FB app. Thai Air is so inept and bureaucratic that they would need 6 months of consulting from McKinsey to even understand the whole idea, and then forget about implementation. CP, well that might be a good case. Bangkok Bank or another bank may be another, but have you ever explored their technology for on line banking?

Read the enclosed article http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517 as a starrting point and see that the user sign ons is dropping off significantly and they have given up hopes for India as they also lack a 3G network. India by the way, has a much more robust and numerous real consumer base than Thailand. India also doen't have the vast black market pirated goods trade that is huge in Thailand and much of the goods around in malls is third run defects and copies. The article doesn't even reference Thailand. Top name brand stores in Thailand like Gucci, Fendi, Zegna ..etc. don't usually pay rent in large upscale malls like Paragon - they get a bye as a draw for traffic and just pay a commission to the landlord on any sales.

Thailand is not regarded as a "walking" or easy drive by market and therefore much of FB's strategy to target these customers doesn't appear relavent. Internet connection in most Thai residential and wireless end points is too slow or not secure. Apart from the technology issues, Thailand is just not an economic market for monetized commercial Facebook. They still haven't decoded that completely in the US, Europe and Japan let alone a fragile , limited state like Thailand.

Again, you miss the mark including on why Thailand and Asia add so much value to its worth. Thailand has the 16th most Facebook users of any country with a penetration level that rates over 100th. Not only is it already a huge market taking advantage of by advertisers but also has an even huger potential given the continued rapid growth of internet users here. You can go on and on with doom and gloom but kind of hard to argue with facts. Asia, including Thailand, is HUGELY important to Facebook right now and a huge reason for its value because it is seen as where the biggest growth will come from in the coming years since much of the west has already hit its peak in terms of users.

Facebook Growth Fueled by Asian Countries

http://www.cmswire.c...ions-015670.php

Asia helps drive Facebook's 1-billion goal

http://www.gmanetwor...-1-billion-goal

Analysis: Facebook can't take Asian growth for granted

http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Bangkok is Top Town for Facebookers, as Asia Fuels Growth

http://pandodaily.co...a-fuels-growth/

How Asia is powering Facebook's growth

http://articles.time...cial-networking

Facebook's Prospects In Asia

http://seekingalpha....ospects-in-asia

Facebook's Amazing Growth in the Developing World

http://www.theatlant...g-world/257392/

Why facebook fans are worth more to you (chart)

http://webstrategy.a...re-to-you-chart

1 Million Facebook Fans = $3.6 Million In Media Value

http://www.techinasi...in-media-value/

Edited May 19, 2012 by Nisa

mrdome · May 19, 2012

I will never get FB, I hate it.

So, you hate mobile phones too and keeping in touch with friends? ... Having a FB account does not mean one is spending their life there. You can do with it what you want. It's just a means to communicate with others and often you don't feel like sending a full email or can't/don't want to call.

Nisa · May 19, 2012

I will never get FB, I hate it.

So, you hate mobile phones too and keeping in touch with friends? ... Having a FB account does not mean one is spending their life there. You can do with it what you want. It's just a means to communicate with others and often you don't feel like sending a full email or can't/don't want to call.

email, phones, tvs... I think we're all seen the same by some people.

noitom · May 19, 2012

@ Nisa - Suggest that you bone up on the business issues. Thailand has no 3G that works let alone 4G and is very far away from an implementation of 3G, at the least necessary to leverage a Facebook commercial implementation. Second, the big kicker in Thailand would be selling advertising to companies who have enabled apps (applications) on smart 3G or 4G phones. Companies would be interested in Facebook's ability, like Google's to pinpoint location and deliver just in time advertising offers through the companies app and get them "stuck" on the app, for example Starbucks. For additional example illustrations a Trader Joe, a Target, an Ikea, a Costco..etc or some other such enterprise like a Home Pro in Thailand.

Most of Non-farm Thailand is either manufacturing or hospitality (including - sex trade both for foreign sex tourism domestic sex trade which dwarfs the foreign sex business). Facebook has limited interest in focusing on the manufacturing sector in Thailand since they mostly sell internationally and through dealers. It would also be doubtful that the sex trade is of much future interest. Non-sex hospitality would be a limited advertiser paid market with apps running on Facebook. remember, FB's strategy is to get advertisers to "run the app" and therefore own the relationship. Thai based industry is unlikely to represent a significant market for implementing Facebook advertiser's apps. Red Bull , Chang, Singha, Thai Air, and CP would be fairly good examples of Thai companies who might have the scale and budget to run a Facebook secure app for mobile and desktop users.

Red Bull's market in Thailand doesn't strike me as worth it for them to pursue since they don't sell the international formula of Red Bull and contribute very little to overall Red Bull revenue. Chang and Singha might make it work, but their products don't really make an incremental gain with a FB app. Thai Air is so inept and bureaucratic that they would need 6 months of consulting from McKinsey to even understand the whole idea, and then forget about implementation. CP, well that might be a good case. Bangkok Bank or another bank may be another, but have you ever explored their technology for on line banking?

Read the enclosed article http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517 as a starrting point and see that the user sign ons is dropping off significantly and they have given up hopes for India as they also lack a 3G network. India by the way, has a much more robust and numerous real consumer base than Thailand. India also doen't have the vast black market pirated goods trade that is huge in Thailand and much of the goods around in malls is third run defects and copies. The article doesn't even reference Thailand. Top name brand stores in Thailand like Gucci, Fendi, Zegna ..etc. don't usually pay rent in large upscale malls like Paragon - they get a bye as a draw for traffic and just pay a commission to the landlord on any sales.

Thailand is not regarded as a "walking" or easy drive by market and therefore much of FB's strategy to target these customers doesn't appear relavent. Internet connection in most Thai residential and wireless end points is too slow or not secure. Apart from the technology issues, Thailand is just not an economic market for monetized commercial Facebook. They still haven't decoded that completely in the US, Europe and Japan let alone a fragile , limited state like Thailand.

Again, you miss the mark including on why Thailand and Asia add so much value to its worth. Thailand has the 16th most Facebook users of any country with a penetration level that rates over 100th. Not only is it already a huge market taking advantage of by advertisers but also has an even huger potential given the continued rapid growth of internet users here. You can go on and on with doom and gloom but kind of hard to argue with facts. Asia, including Thailand, is HUGELY important to Facebook right now and a huge reason for its value because it is seen as where the biggest growth will come from in the coming years since much of the west has already hit its peak in terms of users.

Facebook Growth Fueled by Asian Countries

http://www.cmswire.c...ions-015670.php

Asia helps drive Facebook's 1-billion goal

http://www.gmanetwor...-1-billion-goal

Analysis: Facebook can't take Asian growth for granted

http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Bangkok is Top Town for Facebookers, as Asia Fuels Growth

http://pandodaily.co...a-fuels-growth/

How Asia is powering Facebook's growth

http://articles.time...cial-networking

Facebook's Prospects In Asia

http://seekingalpha....ospects-in-asia

Facebook's Amazing Growth in the Developing World

http://www.theatlant...g-world/257392/

Why facebook fans are worth more to you (chart)

http://webstrategy.a...re-to-you-chart

1 Million Facebook Fans = $3.6 Million In Media Value

http://www.techinasi...in-media-value/

I don't know why you would cite this Reuters article - it is not favorable to Thailand at all, and in fact raises serious concerns. It looks like you may have taken a headline and not actually read the article. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-facebook-asia-idUSBRE84G0JQ20120517

Thailand doesn't yet have adequate 3G and is very far away from 4G, the network backbone needed to really leverage the power of Facebook and monetizing it. Thailand users spend little time on Facebook even though they signed up for an account. Loo at it from the point of view as to how Facebook will own the relationship with the corporate user not the end user. It will own the end user by getting the corporate user to implement a mobile app and keep "their" customers on "their" implementation of Facebook enterprise and not on a web based browser using Google for search and SEO. Most of the ads that you see on your desktop Facebook are actually Google ads. Facebook gets a very small part of that revenue. Actually, although Thailand has 16 million registered accounts, it produces miniscule revenue for Facebook. Sorry you don't get the basic fundamentals. Keep showing up, you'll get there.

noitom · May 19, 2012

@ Nisa - Suggest that you bone up on the business issues. Thailand has no 3G that works let alone 4G and is very far away from an implementation of 3G, at the least necessary to leverage a Facebook commercial implementation. Second, the big kicker in Thailand would be selling advertising to companies who have enabled apps (applications) on smart 3G or 4G phones. Companies would be interested in Facebook's ability, like Google's to pinpoint location and deliver just in time advertising offers through the companies app and get them "stuck" on the app, for example Starbucks. For additional example illustrations a Trader Joe, a Target, an Ikea, a Costco..etc or some other such enterprise like a Home Pro in Thailand.

Most of Non-farm Thailand is either manufacturing or hospitality (including - sex trade both for foreign sex tourism domestic sex trade which dwarfs the foreign sex business). Facebook has limited interest in focusing on the manufacturing sector in Thailand since they mostly sell internationally and through dealers. It would also be doubtful that the sex trade is of much future interest. Non-sex hospitality would be a limited advertiser paid market with apps running on Facebook. remember, FB's strategy is to get advertisers to "run the app" and therefore own the relationship. Thai based industry is unlikely to represent a significant market for implementing Facebook advertiser's apps. Red Bull , Chang, Singha, Thai Air, and CP would be fairly good examples of Thai companies who might have the scale and budget to run a Facebook secure app for mobile and desktop users.

Red Bull's market in Thailand doesn't strike me as worth it for them to pursue since they don't sell the international formula of Red Bull and contribute very little to overall Red Bull revenue. Chang and Singha might make it work, but their products don't really make an incremental gain with a FB app. Thai Air is so inept and bureaucratic that they would need 6 months of consulting from McKinsey to even understand the whole idea, and then forget about implementation. CP, well that might be a good case. Bangkok Bank or another bank may be another, but have you ever explored their technology for on line banking?

Read the enclosed article http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517 as a starrting point and see that the user sign ons is dropping off significantly and they have given up hopes for India as they also lack a 3G network. India by the way, has a much more robust and numerous real consumer base than Thailand. India also doen't have the vast black market pirated goods trade that is huge in Thailand and much of the goods around in malls is third run defects and copies. The article doesn't even reference Thailand. Top name brand stores in Thailand like Gucci, Fendi, Zegna ..etc. don't usually pay rent in large upscale malls like Paragon - they get a bye as a draw for traffic and just pay a commission to the landlord on any sales.

Thailand is not regarded as a "walking" or easy drive by market and therefore much of FB's strategy to target these customers doesn't appear relavent. Internet connection in most Thai residential and wireless end points is too slow or not secure. Apart from the technology issues, Thailand is just not an economic market for monetized commercial Facebook. They still haven't decoded that completely in the US, Europe and Japan let alone a fragile , limited state like Thailand.

Again, you miss the mark including on why Thailand and Asia add so much value to its worth. Thailand has the 16th most Facebook users of any country with a penetration level that rates over 100th. Not only is it already a huge market taking advantage of by advertisers but also has an even huger potential given the continued rapid growth of internet users here. You can go on and on with doom and gloom but kind of hard to argue with facts. Asia, including Thailand, is HUGELY important to Facebook right now and a huge reason for its value because it is seen as where the biggest growth will come from in the coming years since much of the west has already hit its peak in terms of users.

Facebook Growth Fueled by Asian Countries

http://www.cmswire.c...ions-015670.php

Asia helps drive Facebook's 1-billion goal

http://www.gmanetwor...-1-billion-goal

Analysis: Facebook can't take Asian growth for granted

http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Bangkok is Top Town for Facebookers, as Asia Fuels Growth

http://pandodaily.co...a-fuels-growth/

How Asia is powering Facebook's growth

http://articles.time...cial-networking

Facebook's Prospects In Asia

http://seekingalpha....ospects-in-asia

Facebook's Amazing Growth in the Developing World

http://www.theatlant...g-world/257392/

Why facebook fans are worth more to you (chart)

http://webstrategy.a...re-to-you-chart

1 Million Facebook Fans = $3.6 Million In Media Value

http://www.techinasi...in-media-value/

I don't know why you would cite this Reuters article - it is not favorable to Thailand at all, and in fact raises serious concerns. It looks like you may have taken a headline and not actually read the article. http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Thailand doesn't yet have adequate 3G and is very far away from 4G, the network backbone needed to really leverage the power of Facebook and monetizing it. Thailand users spend little time on Facebook even though they signed up for an account. Loo at it from the point of view as to how Facebook will own the relationship with the corporate user not the end user. It will own the end user by getting the corporate user to implement a mobile app and keep "their" customers on "their" implementation of Facebook enterprise and not on a web based browser using Google for search and SEO. Most of the ads that you see on your desktop Facebook are actually Google ads. Facebook gets a very small part of that revenue. Actually, although Thailand has 16 million registered accounts, it produces miniscule revenue for Facebook. Sorry you don't get the basic fundamentals. Keep showing up, you'll get there.

By the way, the Thailand monetized element of Facebook's IPO is non existent in the big scheme of things. Thailand was essentially insignificant as part of the IPO valuation or the company's fundamental valuation.

Nisa · May 19, 2012

@ Nisa - Suggest that you bone up on the business issues. Thailand has no 3G that works let alone 4G and is very far away from an implementation of 3G, at the least necessary to leverage a Facebook commercial implementation. Second, the big kicker in Thailand would be selling advertising to companies who have enabled apps (applications) on smart 3G or 4G phones. Companies would be interested in Facebook's ability, like Google's to pinpoint location and deliver just in time advertising offers through the companies app and get them "stuck" on the app, for example Starbucks. For additional example illustrations a Trader Joe, a Target, an Ikea, a Costco..etc or some other such enterprise like a Home Pro in Thailand.

Most of Non-farm Thailand is either manufacturing or hospitality (including - sex trade both for foreign sex tourism domestic sex trade which dwarfs the foreign sex business). Facebook has limited interest in focusing on the manufacturing sector in Thailand since they mostly sell internationally and through dealers. It would also be doubtful that the sex trade is of much future interest. Non-sex hospitality would be a limited advertiser paid market with apps running on Facebook. remember, FB's strategy is to get advertisers to "run the app" and therefore own the relationship. Thai based industry is unlikely to represent a significant market for implementing Facebook advertiser's apps. Red Bull , Chang, Singha, Thai Air, and CP would be fairly good examples of Thai companies who might have the scale and budget to run a Facebook secure app for mobile and desktop users.

Red Bull's market in Thailand doesn't strike me as worth it for them to pursue since they don't sell the international formula of Red Bull and contribute very little to overall Red Bull revenue. Chang and Singha might make it work, but their products don't really make an incremental gain with a FB app. Thai Air is so inept and bureaucratic that they would need 6 months of consulting from McKinsey to even understand the whole idea, and then forget about implementation. CP, well that might be a good case. Bangkok Bank or another bank may be another, but have you ever explored their technology for on line banking?

Read the enclosed article http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517 as a starrting point and see that the user sign ons is dropping off significantly and they have given up hopes for India as they also lack a 3G network. India by the way, has a much more robust and numerous real consumer base than Thailand. India also doen't have the vast black market pirated goods trade that is huge in Thailand and much of the goods around in malls is third run defects and copies. The article doesn't even reference Thailand. Top name brand stores in Thailand like Gucci, Fendi, Zegna ..etc. don't usually pay rent in large upscale malls like Paragon - they get a bye as a draw for traffic and just pay a commission to the landlord on any sales.

Thailand is not regarded as a "walking" or easy drive by market and therefore much of FB's strategy to target these customers doesn't appear relavent. Internet connection in most Thai residential and wireless end points is too slow or not secure. Apart from the technology issues, Thailand is just not an economic market for monetized commercial Facebook. They still haven't decoded that completely in the US, Europe and Japan let alone a fragile , limited state like Thailand.

Again, you miss the mark including on why Thailand and Asia add so much value to its worth. Thailand has the 16th most Facebook users of any country with a penetration level that rates over 100th. Not only is it already a huge market taking advantage of by advertisers but also has an even huger potential given the continued rapid growth of internet users here. You can go on and on with doom and gloom but kind of hard to argue with facts. Asia, including Thailand, is HUGELY important to Facebook right now and a huge reason for its value because it is seen as where the biggest growth will come from in the coming years since much of the west has already hit its peak in terms of users.

Facebook Growth Fueled by Asian Countries

http://www.cmswire.c...ions-015670.php

Asia helps drive Facebook's 1-billion goal

http://www.gmanetwor...-1-billion-goal

Analysis: Facebook can't take Asian growth for granted

http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Bangkok is Top Town for Facebookers, as Asia Fuels Growth

http://pandodaily.co...a-fuels-growth/

How Asia is powering Facebook's growth

http://articles.time...cial-networking

Facebook's Prospects In Asia

http://seekingalpha....ospects-in-asia

Facebook's Amazing Growth in the Developing World

http://www.theatlant...g-world/257392/

Why facebook fans are worth more to you (chart)

http://webstrategy.a...re-to-you-chart

1 Million Facebook Fans = $3.6 Million In Media Value

http://www.techinasi...in-media-value/

I don't know why you would cite this Reuters article - it is not favorable to Thailand at all, and in fact raises serious concerns. It looks like you may have taken a headline and not actually read the article. http://www.reuters.c...E84G0JQ20120517

Thailand doesn't yet have adequate 3G and is very far away from 4G, the network backbone needed to really leverage the power of Facebook and monetizing it. Thailand users spend little time on Facebook even though they signed up for an account. Loo at it from the point of view as to how Facebook will own the relationship with the corporate user not the end user. It will own the end user by getting the corporate user to implement a mobile app and keep "their" customers on "their" implementation of Facebook enterprise and not on a web based browser using Google for search and SEO. Most of the ads that you see on your desktop Facebook are actually Google ads. Facebook gets a very small part of that revenue. Actually, although Thailand has 16 million registered accounts, it produces miniscule revenue for Facebook. Sorry you don't get the basic fundamentals. Keep showing up, you'll get there.

Again you seem clueless when it comes to current value and the importance of potential value as well as for some odd reason wanting to put blinders on to how both facebook and investors view the Asian market including Thailand. You can go on and on about 3G and so on but this is just one of the reasons that the outlook is so good in Thailand and Asia and why Asia is so important and hasn't yet seen the saturation level as has the west. Advertising budgets of major brands is HUGE in Thailand.

This really isn't brain surgery and not sure why you want to be so stubborn. You seem to be stuck in today be it users, technology and everything else to do with the value of users and Facebook and why your views are opposite to what is considered common sense in the investment and business world.

Do you grasp that revenues for Facebook were just around $4.25 Billion in 2011 with profits around $1 Billion but the current IPO put the company's value over $100 Billion? Clearly this should help give you an indication that today's technology and reality means little in terms of Facebook's value and what investors believe.

You might also want to realize that advertising isn't Facebook's only revenue and although revenue grows radically each year yet the percentage which comes from advertising is declining.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Nisa

Nisa · May 19, 2012

Looking away from advertising dollars and getting revenue from other sources including Facebook gaming.

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/563-5-best-facebook-statistics-from-ipo-filing-amendment-charts/

Edited May 19, 2012 by Nisa

BookMan · May 19, 2012

all my Thai friends have multiple FB accounts. At least 3 or 4. Some up to 10.

Cut that number by at least 50% and you are close to the truth

Too true.

Yet to meet a Thai woman without at least 2 FB profiles.

Nisa · May 19, 2012

all my Thai friends have multiple FB accounts. At least 3 or 4. Some up to 10.

Cut that number by at least 50% and you are close to the truth

Too true.

Yet to meet a Thai woman without at least 2 FB profiles.

You might want to consider getting out and actually experiencing Thailand since you have never met a Thai women whose Facebook user account(s) you have not been privy too. Seriously, you need to see the real Thailand and its people beyond the seedy crowd because your view is kind of like a prisoner assuming that most everyone in the world is a rapists or murderer because those are the people they meet while in prison

Edited May 19, 2012 by Nisa

phiphidon · May 19, 2012

Nisa you appear to be in attack mode and not listening mode but I'll try once more. If you believe that FB privacy and "promises" will stand up to a governments "requests", not necessarily made public, to access their information, I think you are wrong.

Again, no clue what this has to do with my post.

Nisa, did you or did you not write this

The privacy setting on facebook allow you to have a completely private page with no access to anyone but yourself and having nobody even be able to search for it all the way to completely public with your content being in search engines and everyone being able to post and view to this page ... as well as having privacy settings for just about anything in between.

Edited May 19, 2012 by phiphidon

BookMan · May 19, 2012

all my Thai friends have multiple FB accounts. At least 3 or 4. Some up to 10.

Cut that number by at least 50% and you are close to the truth

Too true.

Yet to meet a Thai woman without at least 2 FB profiles.

You might want to consider getting out and actually experiencing Thailand since you have never met a Thai women whose Facebook user account(s) you have not been privy too. Seriously, you need to see the real Thailand and its people beyond the seedy crowd because your view is kind of like a prisoner assuming that most everyone in the world is a rapists or murderer because those are the people they meet while in prison

What a bizarre statement. Really.

My GF, her sister, her brother, her cousins, her friends..all of them have 2+ accounts. One for close friends/family. One for work people. Perhaps one for other people who don't fit the first two groups.

How this relates to murderers and rapists?

I think your statement is a good indication of how your own mind works Nisa. Clearly light years away from my own thinking.

radiochaser · May 19, 2012

Why does a company Facebook page be any different than any other internet advertising page? Beyond the fact that Facebook has huge SEO and it allows potential clients to easily interact.

The privacy setting on facebook allow you to have a completely private page with no access to anyone but yourself and having nobody even be able to search for it all the way to completely public with your content being in search engines and everyone being able to post and view to this page ... as well as having privacy settings for just about anything in between.

Good Luck with that..........

CISPA has support among the tech giants including Facebook, IBM and Microsoft.........

...............On Friday,Joel Kaplan, Facebook's VP for U.S. public policy, assured users in a blog post that CISPA would allow the social network and other companies to share information with the government about possible cyber attacks, without imposing new obligations to share data with the feds:

"That said, we recognize that a number of privacy and civil liberties groups have raised concerns about the bill – in particular about provisions that enable private companies to voluntarily share cyber threat data with the government. The concern is that companies will share sensitive personal information with the government in the name of protecting cybersecurity. Facebook has no intention of doing this and it is unrelated to the things we liked about HR 3523 in the first place -- the additional information it would provide us about specific cyber threats to our systems and users"................

..........EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation, https://www.eff.org/) , for one, isn't buying it. In a lengthy response to Kaplan's post, EFF noted that the government can share information about cyber threats with companies such as Facebook without

"any of the CISPA provisions that allow companies to routinely monitor private communications and share personal user data gleaned from those communications with the government."

Furthermore, EFF isn't willing to take Facebook at its word:

"Internet users don't want promises from companies not to intercept our private communications and share that data with one another and the government. We want strong laws that make such egregious privacy violations illegal, that require the government to follow legal process (judicial oversight in most case), and that allow us or the government to sue persons who break the law."

http://www.technolog...bout-you-719091

Major CISPA opponent steps down, jeopardizing White House's veto promise

The House-approved legislation that would erode Internet privacy for Americans might have just bypassed a major hurdle. The White House official who publically condemned CISPA has suddenly stepped down as Obama's cybersecurity coordinator.

http://rt.com/usa/ne...rity-house-535/

I am retired now, but, when I was working, it was in the Enforcement Bureau of a three letter Federal Government agency in the United States, not the FBI either. We investigated violations of Federal Legislative Law, not criminal law, that was for people who had the powers of arrest, which I did not. But still, we did investigations of people who were violating Federal Law!

About two years before I retired a new young man, I will call him Jim, was hired into the office. I was working a case and rhetorically asked, "there must be some place on the internet that has information about the guy I am investigating." Jim said he would check and was back in five minutes with the name of the guy I was investigating, his mothers and fathers name, his telephone number, where he went to college, what his major was, where he volunteered to work at his college, his home address, and what he had planned to do and when and more. Everything needed to close my case.

Jim told me he had a Facebook account and found all the information on Facebook. Any one with a Facebook account and knowledge of how it worked could have done the same thing. I did not have a Facebook account at that time.

The office found Facebook to be a "Horn of Plenty" in our investigations, mainly because of the users failure to use the privacy features!I am on Facebook, but I try to not use it much. Facebook and other websites like it scares me, with the amount of private information out there just waiting for a person to access it with his computer!

Nisa · May 19, 2012

all my Thai friends have multiple FB accounts. At least 3 or 4. Some up to 10.

Cut that number by at least 50% and you are close to the truth

Too true.

Yet to meet a Thai woman without at least 2 FB profiles.

You might want to consider getting out and actually experiencing Thailand since you have never met a Thai women whose Facebook user account(s) you have not been privy too. Seriously, you need to see the real Thailand and its people beyond the seedy crowd because your view is kind of like a prisoner assuming that most everyone in the world is a rapists or murderer because those are the people they meet while in prison

What a bizarre statement. Really.

My GF, her sister, her brother, her cousins, her friends..all of them have 2+ accounts. One for close friends/family. One for work people. Perhaps one for other people who don't fit the first two groups.

How this relates to murderers and rapists?

I think your statement is a good indication of how your own mind works Nisa. Clearly light years away from my own thinking.

Again, if that is the only women you have met in Thailand (as you stated) then as I stated you should get out more. Since you failed to get the analogy then let me explain it this way ... it is incredibly naive to base your opinions on an entire group (nationality or gender) based on such a small sample of people such as a sampling of your girlfriends friends and family or convicts on is incarcerated with ( the analogy you didn't understand).

If you are still not getting the point then let me make it crystal clear ..... There is absolutely nothing factual to back up any claim that Thais would have multiple accounts at any rate higher than any other country.

By the way, I have countless female and male Thai friends which I am also friends with on Facebook and can only think of one 15-year old, a daughter of a friend, who has more than one User account. A number of them have groups or business pages but these are not separate user accounts. Like anywhere else, they either know how to use the privacy features, don't care and/or don't friend people they don't want part of their Facebook friends and none of them feel a need to have multiple personalities and faux lives for different friends or acquaintances. The are who they are and don't share information with people they don't want to be it personal of on Facebook.

If you think about it ... kind of bizzare to think of somebody setting up a facebook account for people they work with to view and have these folks wonder why the only friends they have are coworkers ... kind of a huge Red Flag you are hiding something. On the other hand, it is very normal not to befriend people on facebook who are co-workers. Also strange to create a Facebook page specifically for people you are not friends with.

Sure people have multiple accounts but no more than anywhere else.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Nisa

Nisa · May 19, 2012

I am retired now, but, when I was working, it was in the Enforcement Bureau of a three letter Federal Government agency in the United States, not the FBI either. We investigated violations of Federal Legislative Law, not criminal law, that was for people who had the powers of arrest, which I did not. But still, we did investigations of people who were violating Federal Law!

About two years before I retired a new young man, I will call him Jim, was hired into the office. I was working a case and rhetorically asked, "there must be some place on the internet that has information about the guy I am investigating." Jim said he would check and was back in five minutes with the name of the guy I was investigating, his mothers and fathers name, his telephone number, where he went to college, what his major was, where he volunteered to work at his college, his home address, and what he had planned to do and when and more. Everything needed to close my case.

Jim told me he had a Facebook account and found all the information on Facebook. Any one with a Facebook account and knowledge of how it worked could have done the same thing. I did not have a Facebook account at that time.

The office found Facebook to be a "Horn of Plenty" in our investigations, mainly because of the users failure to use the privacy features!I am on Facebook, but I try to not use it much. Facebook and other websites like it scares me, with the amount of private information out there just waiting for a person to access it with his computer!

If one puts information on the internet they don't want shared about themselves then they shouldn't be on the internet and/or if they can't figure out how to set their Facebook page to private or friends only then they shouldn't be on Facebook.

BookMan · May 19, 2012

Again, if that is the only women you have met in Thailand (as you stated) then as I stated you should get out more. Since you failed to get the analogy then let me explain it this way ... it is incredibly naive to base your opinions on an entire group (nationality or gender) based on such a small sample of people such as a sampling of your girlfriends friends and family or convicts on is incarcerated with ( the analogy you didn't understand).

If you are still not getting the point then let me make it crystal clear ..... There is absolutely nothing factual to back up any claim that Thais would have multiple accounts at any rate higher than any other country.

I thought it might have just been my post that created such a reaction from yourself...

Then I skimmed a few of your other posts...

Then I realised, Nisa, that it is not me or my posts that are the problem.

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